If Republican Jon Huntsman refuses to campaign in Iowa, he’s not worthy of being president, conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats said this morning.

“I see this as a disqualifier for him to run for president,” Vander Plaats told the Register. “Are you going to be president of 49 states, not 50 states?”

Vander Plaats is the president of the Family Leader, an Iowa-based advocacy group that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion and promotes fiscal policies that they believe help families.

He pointed out that Huntsman’s reason for skipping Iowa before the first-in-the-nation caucuses here is because of ethanol subsidies, yet so many Republicans were worried fiscally-focused candidates would avoid the state because of the dominance of religious conservatives here.

“I find that a little bit ironic,” Vander Plaats said.

“When you’re running for president, Iowa is a laboratory of ideas and why not present Iowans with alternative ideas … versus running and hiding?” Vander Plaats added. “We’re looking for a leader today. Not someone who’s going to run away from issues or problems.”

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz is also criticizing Huntsman, a former governor of Utah and former U.S. ambassador to China, for saying he plans to skip the 2012 Iowa caucuses if he runs for the Republican presidential nomination.

Schultz described Huntsman’s excuse as having as much credibility as “the dog ate my homework.” He also said that being a Mormon isn’t a barrier to winning political support in Iowa.